The two leaders, who pleaded not guilty, will now face trial during which the court would record their statements and that of the complainant and other witnesses.
'Our prime interest is to help the victim get justice. When we speak of justice, what we mean is, all the people who exploited her should be punished,' KK Shailaja, general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association, tells Shobha Warrier
The anti-Congress feeling is so sharp that when General Secretary Prakash Karat proposed to the all-powerful Politburo that for the 2009 election the party's policy should be 'Defeat BJP, Reject Congress', the Politburo sent back the revised slogan of 'Defeat BJP, Defeat Congress.'
The colourful rally galvanised the BRS workers who shouted slogans hailing the party-led regime's welfare schemes in Telangana and peppy political songs praised Rao's 'national' emergence.
Apart from the two major parties (Cong: 98; BJP: 67) the Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in four seats, while the Janata Dal-United and the Communist Party of India-Marxist are ahead in one each.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist is in favour of mounting diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh to destroy camps of North-East based militant outfits in that country. Party general secretary Prakash Karat told a press conference that the militant camps present in Bangladesh should be destroyed and that "will be possible only by mounting diplomatic pressure." He expressedg grave concern over large-scale infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh.
In a four-cornered fight, the real battle is between Union minister Pratima Bhoumik and CPM's Kaushik Chanda.
The Kerala state advocate general, C.P.Sudhakara Prasad, has given his opinion in the multi-crore corruption case involving the Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and has opined that the prosecution need not take any action against the former state electricity minister.
As news of the death came in, condolences for the family poured in from leaders and others, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind.
While the Kerala chief minister has not yet shown any sign of accepting the party's line on the SNC Lavalin corruption case -- where Vijayan has been termed an accused by the CBI -- the politburo will try to maintain a balance between the two factions in a last-ditch effort.
The Left parties will greet visiting US President Barack Obama on Monday with protests but their MPs, barring the Forward Bloc (which has two MPs in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha), will listen to him when he addresses Parliament.
After the controversy raised by the Trinamool Congress that his political affiliation was with the Communist Party of India-Marxist and he could not be a brand ambassador of the Election Commission, former India captain Sourav Ganguly has cried off.
If political analysts and party insiders are to be believed, the CPI-M would soon be divided into two easily identifiable groups: Pro-Prakash Karat and anti-Karat. "Some veteran party members are only awaiting the trust vote result. Should the United Progressive Alliance government win, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and his team will be in for some rude shocks," say party insiders.
Virtually rejecting Trinamool Congress' appeal to support a no-confidence motion to be brought by it, Communist Party of India-Marxist said such a move would only help the government cover up all its "wrong" policies.
In an exclusive column to Rediff.com, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat explains what is wrong with the Union Budget 2011-12 that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented in Parliament on Monday.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday categorically ruled out forging an alliance or a united front with the Congress in future.
O'Brien had called a press conference on Saturday in which he showed two videos of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's speeches and four photographs, including one that showed Singh offering sweet to Karat.
The government had earlier this week briefed top BJP leadership on the same foreign policy issues.
While Prakash Karat was re-elected as the general secretary of the CPI-M, veteran leaders Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet will no longer be part of the party's politburo, but will stay on as senior figureheads. West Bengal ministers Nirupam Sen and Mohammed Amin, and Kerala home and tourism minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan are the new members in the politburo.
It is spring in Bengal, yet the scorching afternoon sun unleashed its unbearable heat as rediff.com decided to walk around Barrackpore, a sub-division under North 24 Parganas in West Bengal.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer, who had launched a scathing attack on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on Monday sent an apology letter to him.
Leaders of the West Bengal Congress unit, which has an alliance with the CPI-M-led Left Front in the state, were seen welcoming the Left leaders.
Stating that the Trinamool Congress was ready to contest all the 42 seats in West Bengal, party chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that she was prepared to hold talks with those who really wanted to defeat the ruling Communist Party of India Marxist.In an obvious reference to the Congress, Banerjee told the Trinamool Congress General Council meeting in Kolkata, "We are the principal opposition party and nobody should be allowed to say that we refused their offer."
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday said it wanted a common approach by political parties when the Indo-US nuclear deal comes up for discussion in Parliament during the winter session.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting searches at the home of Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising -- who served as additional solicitor general during UPA 2 -- and the offices of Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by her husband lawyer Anand Grover, officials said.
"We are surprised to see the observation of the apex court. We consider right to organise peaceful protest as a basic right of political parties and citizens. Judicial encroachment is uncalled for," party general secretary Prakash Karat said.
According to the sources, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CPI national secretary D Raja, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader and grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, Prakash, and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are some of the probable contenders whose names the Opposition parties are considering.
BJP state president V Muraleedharan said that the CPM leadership had run out of ideas and was trying to suppress its political opponents by physically intimidating them. Arun Lakshman reports
Navigating a history of animosity and mistrust, negotiations for a potential Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance in West Bengal face significant challenges while addressing the shared adversary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, with the Bengal Congress unit appearing reluctant to engage in an electoral pact.
Perhaps sensing mid-term polls, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has reinstated Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandhan and the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the politburo
The Left and SP, along with TDP, have held consultations on the issue.
Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has always played a key role in defusing tensions with the Left, were also present at the crucial meeting.
The group, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and state secretary Biman Bose, feels the "timing of the withdrawal" in July 2008 was "wrong". The group will seek a review of this decision in the forthcoming extended Central Committee meeting of the party in Vijayawada in August and also question other decisions of the party that are alleged to have led to the debacle in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Uncertain political times in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura.
'I found that the only path to fight inequality was the path of revolutionary politics,' says CPI-M Politburo member Brinda Karat.
Leaders of several opposition parties on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court verdict striking down the electoral bonds scheme and termed it an important step in ensuring transparency in electoral funding.
Noting that the WikiLeaks cables were a 'sad and revealing' commentary of where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress have landed the country in, the CPI-M has said Americans were willing to do everything to win the trust vote during the UPA government's regime so that the nuclear deal could go through.CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said the cables show that the Americans are keen observers of the high level of corruption that exists in India's politics.
The feisty TMC boss also accused the CPI-M of ruining her party's relationship with the Congress, its ally in the Opposition bloc INDIA at the national level.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to stop mass joinings from the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal amid growing resentment within the saffron party over rampant inductions without scrutiny, senior leaders said on Tuesday.
Participating in the resumed discussion on the General Budget in the Rajya Sabha, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat said the government is linking food inflation to higher purchasing power among the poor resulting from employment programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
